With a Little Help From My Friends
by Lady Fael
Summary: Tristan is friends with Duncan and Bowman. But are they really his friends? This is a songfic about Tristan when he’s ‘friends’ with Duncan and Bowman to the song ‘With a Little Help From My Friends’ by the Beatles.


With a Little Help From My Friends

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Gilmore Girls or With a Little Help From My Friends, nor do I claim to.

**Summary: **Tristan is friends with Duncan and Bowman. But are they really his friends? This is a songfic about Tristan when he's 'friends' with Duncan and Bowman to the song 'With a Little Help From My Friends' by the Beatles.

**Setting: **This is set at the beginning of Rory's second year at Chilton, during the 2nd season. Tristan is hanging out with Duncan and Bowman and being bad, as well as being caught. Why? What is he feeling?

**A/N: **Firstly, reviews are appreciated. And, second, I have not abandoned My Brother or Losing My Mind! So don't worry about that. This just popped out of nowhere and I wrote it to have a break from my other, longer fics. I hope you like it as much as I liked writing it!

-&-

_What would you think if I sang out of tune?  
Would you stand up and walk out on me?  
Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song  
And I'll try not to sing out of key._

Maybe she knew and she was just trying to pretend she didn't hear him, Tristan thought as he got up from his desk, books in hand. Maybe she was purposefully not listening because she thought it would complicate her life if she did. Maybe, somewhere deep down, she heard him. She heard what he tried to tell her every day, but didn't have the courage to say right out and therefore had to express in different ways. Maybe she heard the song he was trying to sing, but maybe, to her ears, it was out of tune. If she would just listen to what he was trying to tell her!

Tristan gritted his teeth as he shoved his geometry book into his backpack and started walking out the door. There. She was standing there, talking to Paris and looking stressed about something. And he couldn't help himself.

As he brushed past her he made sure his shoulder brushed her cheek lightly, very lightly, and whispered, so just she could hear, "Listen, Rory." She looked up in surprise at first, as though she didn't know it was him, and then rolled her eyes and turned back to Paris.

"Hello? Louise! Madeline! If you would stop mooning after Tristan for two seconds maybe then you would hear my question and therefore answer it!" Tristan heard Paris reprimanding her 'friends'. She sounded surprised when she had to add, "And you too Rory. I don't know what's gotten into you, but you've been looking at him like a love-sick cow, like Louise, these past few days."

Tristan briefly saw her blush and murmur in protest. "Paris, I hate Tristan! And you should know that." And then he wasn't smiling anymore. _She hates me. _She wasn't hearing his song at all. She didn't understand the words. All she could hear was his melody, his out-of-tune melody.

_Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends  
Mm, I get high with a little help from my friends  
Mm, gonna try with a little help from my friends_

"Hey, Tristan!" He heard his voice being called but didn't really want to answer. _She hates me. _"Tr-is-tan!" Again, that voice that he didn't want to hear. _It must be like this for her; she hears my voice, somewhere in the distance, but she doesn't want to hear it. So she doesn't listen. She tunes my voice out. _And when that thought occurred to him, he had to look up.

"Oh, hi, Dunc," he murmured wearily, passing a hand through his hair as Duncan reached him, a grin plastered on his face, stretching from one high cheekbone to the other. "What's up? And where's Bowd?"

"Bowd went to get _it_," Duncan reminded him in a hushed voice. Tristan looked up in surprise and then the word _it _sank in and he understood. He looked down once again, not caring enough to look Duncan in the face.

"Yeah, uh, about that, Dunc, I think I won't-"

"Hey, there he is! Bowd! Bowman! We're over here, man," Duncan yelled enthusiastically, waving his hands in the air. "Hey, Bowd!" When Bowman reached them, his dark brown hair slicked back with gel and a similar, mischievous grin on his face, Duncan finally gave Tristan his attention again. "What was that you were trying to tell me again, man?" he asked in a tone that suggested he didn't really care.

_I have friends. I can get by with their help. I have friends. Don't blow it Tristan._

"Uh, nothing," Tristan admitted, running a hand through his hair again. Nervous habit. _I have friends, they're my friends, with their help I can get by. _He completely smothered the wise part of him, the part that exasperatedly warned him that his 'friends' were complete phonies. Rory, on the other hand…

_What do I do when my love is away?  
(Does it worry you to be alone?)  
How do I feel by the end of the day?  
(Are you sad because you're on your own?)_

"Hey, Tristan, what's with the moodiness?" Duncan asked, sounding just slightly worried. The right amount to still remain cool. "What happened, man?"

"Yeah, what happened, man?" Bowman mimicked, smirking. "Girl dump you? Girl blow you off?"

"Nah, you know that could never happen. Not to me," Tristan joked, a careless, cocky grin present on his face, covering everything else like a mask. "I mean, what girl could resist me?"

"I sure can't," Tristan heard Louise mutter to Madeline as they passed by, Rory in the front and rushing so she didn't have to look at him, be bothered by him. Duncan and Bowman cackled and Tristan let his mouth twitch in a, "Well duh," way. "I'm all yours, Tristan," he heard Louise murmur, as though she was his girlfriend or something.

"If you don't want her I'll take her," Bowman 'whispered' to Tristan, loud enough so Louise, who was far away from them now, could hear. She turned her head to look at Bowman briefly with a smirk that said, 'I'm all yours, I was just joking around when I said Tristan could have me'. Tristan felt sick.

"Hey, I know why our man's all gloomy," Duncan joked, slapping Tristan on the back. "It's 'cause he's all alone!"

Tristan froze suddenly, his cocky grin suspended on his face in a very non-cool, I-actually-have-emotions way. "Uh, what was that, Dunc?" he asked playfully, trying to pretend nothing had happened as he raised one eyebrow. "Did you say that I, Tristan DuGrey, is alone? I mean, man, did you hear Louise? All those girls would die for me."

Duncan and Bowman exchanged smirks as though they had a secret. "Would Mary?" Bowman demanded challengingly, a sick grin frozen on his face. "Would she?" he repeated, stressing it.

Again, Tristan froze.

And then he knew what to say.

"Yeah she would, man. And if you come to the Shakespeare festival thing, you'll see her die for me. 'Romeo, oh Romeo, I would do anything for you! Even kill myself!'

Duncan and Bowman looked confused. And then they understood. Tristan was cool again.

"But how are you going to convince Paris to make you Romeo?" Duncan challenged. Tristan shrugged.

"I have my ways."

_No, I get by with a little help from my friends  
Mm, I get high with a little help from my friends  
Mm, gonna try with a little help from my friends_

_They're good friends; they put the idea right into my head! I'm glad I have them. Otherwise I wouldn't have had this great idea. They're good friends._

_Do you need anybody?  
I need somebody to love  
Could it be anybody?  
I want somebody to love._

_Do I love Rory, uniquely Rory, only Rory? Is this really love? Is it the first time I've ever felt real love? Or is it just because I crave someone, anyone, to love? Do I love Rory?_

_Would you believe in a love at first sight?  
Yes, I'm certain that it happens all the time  
What do you see when you turn out the light?  
I can't tell you but I know it's mine._

_Is there such thing as love at first sight? Did I really fall in love with Rory the first time I saw her? Does 'love at first sight' even exist? I mean, apart from being the cheesiest thing ever, it doesn't make sense; if you 'fell in love with someone at first sight' then wouldn't you be falling in love with them for their looks? Because 'at first sight' means you don't even know them, you've only ever seen their exterior. But it happened with Rory. So it must exist. _

_Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends  
Mm, I get high with a little help from my friends  
Mm, gonna try with a little help from my friends_

_Duncan and Bowman aren't friends. They're pretentious, they just want to be seen with me because I'm cool and they get me in trouble. They're not friends._

_Yes, they are. Duncan and Bowman are very good friends. They help me keep trying to go out and get her, even though they don't know it._

_Do you need anybody  
I just need someone to love  
Could it be anybody  
I want somebody to love._

_I don't believe that I've ever felt what I feel now before. Yes, I've had cravings, I've 'wanted' girls. But it wasn't love. And I don't just want Rory because she's a pretty girl. She's not even that beautiful, and even I have to admit that. It's because she's Rory, unique, special Rory, pure, beautiful-on-the-inside, Mary-Rory. I wouldn't take just anybody._

_Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends  
With a little help from my friends._

_They are my friends. They're good friends, _Tristan concluded at last as he followed his friends out of the school, on their way for the next prank. _They're good friends and nothing bad can come from me being with them. They're good friends, and I don't know what I would do without them. _


End file.
